Pramod Sawant set to take oath as Goa CM today; PM Modi, Rajnath Singh to attend function

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A replica of the Goa Assembly has been created on the stage at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Taleigao where the ceremony will take place Monday morning.

After reviewing the preparations at the stadium along with state BJP leaders on Sunday, Sawant said top party leaders, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, will attend the ceremony. Chief Ministers of 10 states, including Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Karnataka CM Basavraj Bommai, will also attend the event, he said.

A crowd of about 10,000 is expected at the stadium on Monday.

While there are 12 ministerial berths in the Goa government, Sawant said a decision on how many ministers will take oath on Monday had not been taken yet. While ministers in the previous government Vishwajit Rane, Mauvin Godinho and Nilesh Cabral are tipped to return to Sawant’s Cabinet, the BJP has an arduous task before it ensuring representation to Goa’s 12 talukas, its different castes and religions.

Former chief minister Ravi Naik, who left the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the polls, is also expected to find a place in the ministry since he is a leader from the Bhandari community, the largest Hindu group in Goa that comes under the OBC category.

Either former revenue minister Jennifer Monserrate or her husband and Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate may also find a place in the Cabinet. However, if Sawant picks Atanasio over Jennifer, his Cabinet may be left with no woman in it.

It is likely that Independent MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who supported the BJP after winning from Curtorim, may be accommodated in the Cabinet. Lourenco had earlier said his constituents were hopeful that he may become a minister this time.

The bone of contention, however, has been MGP leader Ramkrishna alias Sudin Dhavalikar, who extended support to the BJP after the election result was declared on March 10. Dhavalikar’s inclusion in the government was opposed by most BJP MLAs, but the decision to make him a minister or not was left to the BJP’s central leadership.

While the MGP had forged a pre-poll alliance with the TMC, it has supported the BJP twice before to form the government.